Project Grant DESC0024992

This federal Project Grant award, provided by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), supports the development and testing of a laser-based detector capable of efficiently capturing and selectively identifying magnesium atoms produced from the neon-22 (Ne-22) and helium-4 (He-4) nuclear reaction. The $350,000 award, with a performance period of August 15, 2024 to July 31, 2027, aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using optical single...

This $411,735 National Science Foundation project grant supports research to develop specialized germanium detectors and conduct experiments at the TRIUMF accelerator center in Canada. The goal is to search for a hypothesized boson particle in the decay of antimuons by focusing on low-energy signatures. The University of Chicago will receive the funding to build detectors with improved energy resolution of over three orders of magnitude compared to previous large scintillator calorimeters. These...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) to James Madison University (JMU) will support the development, construction, and commissioning of a modular array based on plastic scintillator detectors for fast neutron detection. The $436,952 award will enable the research team to create an advanced neutron detector that significantly improves position resolution compared to current designs, advancing nuclear structure studies...

This $635,033 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics supports research at the University of Texas at Austin to search for neutrinoless double beta decay using the LEGEND experiment. The researchers will employ high-purity germanium detectors and an ultra-low background setup to detect this rare nuclear transition, which could shed light on neutrino properties and the early evolution of the universe. Additionally, the team will collaborate on developing...

This $839,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) supports the development, construction, and commissioning of a modular fast neutron detector array based on plastic scintillator technology. The new detector system is intended to significantly improve the position resolution for measuring breakup products of neutron-rich atomic nuclei, enabling more precise nuclear structure studies at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams...

This $397,005 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Activities program supports the development, building, and commissioning of a modular, next-generation fast neutron detector array at Augustana College. The new detector, based on plastic scintillator and silicon photomultipliers, will significantly improve the precision of neutron detection and position measurement compared to current designs. This enhanced detector capability will enable more precise...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Integrative Activities (47.083 CFDA) program provides $362,268 to Indiana Wesleyan University (Marion College) to develop a next-generation fast neutron detector for studying neutron-rich atomic nuclei. The new detector system will significantly improve the precision of neutron position measurements compared to current designs, enabling more advanced nuclear structure research at facilities like the Facility for Rare...

This three-year Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics provides $590,584 to Michigan Technological University to advance understanding of gamma-ray astrophysics through analysis of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory and integration with multi-messenger data. Researchers will analyze gamma-ray emission measurements from hundreds of GeV to beyond 100 TeV to improve knowledge of cosmic ray acceleration and interactions in the universe....

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences Program (CFDA 47.049) supports fundamental research in quantum nuclear x-ray optics. The $331,041 award to Texas A&M University aims to achieve two key objectives: 1) the first observation of coherent forward scattering in a scandium-45 (Sc-45) nuclear sample, which could enable highly precise measurements of the gravitational redshift, and 2) the first demonstration of an on-demand...

This $600,000 project grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program supports two fundamental neutrino physics research efforts led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The first effort is the continued development of the Project 8 neutrino experiment, which uses cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy to precisely measure the tritium beta decay endpoint and determine the neutrino mass scale. Over the next...